Many will be lost while hoping to be Christians.

Many are inquiring, "How am I to make the surrender of myself to God?" You desire to give yourself to Him, but you are weak in moral power, in slavery to doubt, and controlled by the habits of your life of sin. Your promises and resolutions are like ropes of sand. You cannot control your thoughts, your impulses, your affections. The knowledge of your broken promises and forfeited pledges weakens your confidence in your own sincerity, and causes you to feel that God cannot accept you; but you need not despair.

What you need to understand is the true force of the will. This is the governing power in the nature of man, the power of decision, or of choice. Everything depends on the right action of the will. The power of choice God has given to men; it is theirs to exercise. 

You cannot change your heart, you cannot of yourself give to God its affections; but you can choose to serve Him. You can give Him your will; He will then work in you to will and to do according to His good pleasure. Thus your whole nature will be brought under the control of the Spirit of Christ; your affections will be centered upon Him, your thoughts will be in harmony with Him.

Desires for goodness and holiness are right as far as they go; but if you stop here, they will avail nothing. Many will be lost while hoping and desiring to be Christians. They do not come to the point of yielding the will to God. They do not now choose to be Christians. 

Through the right exercise of the will, an entire change may be made in your life. By yielding up your will to Christ, you ally yourself with the power that is above all principalities and powers. You will have strength from above to hold you steadfast, and thus through constant surrender to God you will be enabled to live the new life, even the life of faith.




[steps to Christ, 46]

The Agony of Autumn Shades

The hues admired by passing eyes
which here adorn each branch and limb
so impress the passers-by,
yet are birthed from pain within. 

Men stroll in autumn's changing air
and revel in the fiery trees;
they think of God painting fair
these tinted bronze and golden leaves. 

But human minds could never guess
the agony of autumn shades
called forth at the divine behest
which turn the forests into graves. 

Each colored leaf on outstretched hand
is dying slow, a death most bright.
And gently falling to the land
they move toward graves of frozen night.

This mighty maple longs for June
when plenteous stars it green unfurled
to shine in verdant green at noon--!
but now stand flushed and dry and curled.

The God in heaven has seen me proud.
What strength I had I thought was mine,
but was in truth by heav'n endowed
and now in fact by heav'n resigned.

He brings me death. My weakness bared
is no triumph against Him, trying.
Yet as the passers-by declare,
my greatest glory is in dying.

He's Been Answering

Perhaps it's because of my prayers asking for such a thing, or perhaps it's just because my God is a holy Pursuer, but lately the LORD has been trying to change me from the inside out. Usually when I pray for God to change me, I'm unconsciously asking for Him to do it painlessly, quickly, thoroughly, and--please--in a way that does not inconvenience me. So when this change hurts I want to reject it. When this change requires something of me, I'm ready to give up and go distract myself with nonsense.


I've asked that God would help me to set aside my pride and vanity. But when He invites to forego my rituals and expenditures on vanity of appearance, I balk. I'm not ready to face the world with my bad skin and my flat hair. Do I need concealer and a blow dryer to be a person?


I've asked that God would help me to make the most of my life, to do and to be with excellence, to love what is good and become more like Him. But when He points out that I'm wasting my life with TV, I want to argue about the quality of programming or start comparing myself to others that I judge are worse off than I am. Do I think that I can hang on to Christ and to the world at the same time? I wish I could, and yet I wish I could sing sincerely that old hymn, "Take the world, but give me Jesus...."


I've asked that God would direct me into the future that He desires for me, that He would put me where I'm supposed to be-- yet I've asked Him to choose from my multiple choice list, and I've been keen to point out my top choices. But if God asks me to consider a future in option "E: None of the Above," I get to feeling a little anxious. Can I really be more than titles and positions, be more than my job or my degrees?


I know He works in many ways (many of them mysterious) and on many levels with many people. With me right now regarding this, He has pointed out sin in my life and asked me to choose Him instead. But it's uncomfortable. Sometimes it hurts. It means the putting to death of my self... with a sometimes weak faith that He'll resurrect me in His own image.


What I want to be is surrendered to God. What I want to do is to love Him with everything I've got. What I'm finding is that it's surprisingly difficult to say YES and "Amen" as He answers my own prayers.

Self-Pity and Christ's Heavenly Ministry

In the car driving home. Back ache. Raining, yet sun in my eyes. Tiredness.
My heart is hurting. I feel confused and helpless and just as I'm giving in to the darkly satisfying sense of self-pity, the words of the song playing through my speakers come through.


Before the throne of God above
I have a strong and perfect plea, 
A great high priest whose name is Love,
who ever lives and pleads for me...


And I realize that self-pity is stupid. I have a Savior who loves me, watches over me, pleads His blood before the Father on my behalf, blesses me a thousand times over, is preparing a place for me beside Him in eternity. My petty problems are nothing to cry over.


Alleluia! Alleluia!
Praise the one risen Son of God!